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Toronto schools fall short on daily physical activity, study finds

Fewer than half of 900 elementary students in survey weren&rsquo;t getting the required 20 minutes.

Grade 6 student Arielle Kernerman does push-ups at Regency Acres Public School's morning aerobics class. The Aurora, Ont., school says the exercise program has led to improvement to students' behaviour and learning. (Aaron Harris / For the Toronto Star)

By Andrea GordonFamily Issues Reporter

Mon., June 18, 2012

Ontario children are supposed to get 20 minutes of exercise at school every day to boost their heart rates and improve fitness.

But a new study suggests schools are falling short of the requirement, despite rising health concerns over kids who are fatter and more inactive than ever before.

University of Toronto researchers tracked almost 900 students in 16 Toronto elementary schools and found that fewer than half were getting the daily physical activity (DPA) each day. Not one of the students, ages 10 through 12, got a full 20 minutes of sustained exercise.

“The results show that the majority of schools are not meeting the required frequency (five days) or intensity (sustaining moderate-to-vigorous physical activity for at least 20 minutes) of the DPA policy,” the researchers concluded.

The study, which used accelerometers to measure the students’ movements for a week and timetables provided by teachers, was released Monday in the May/June issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health.

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While only a snapshot, it is among the first to evaluate the policy of DPA for all students in Grades 1 through 8, introduced by Ontario in 2005.

The research suggests the practice can make a difference. Kids who did get the required daily exercise were more active than their peers. Those who had at least one bout of vigorous activity were also more likely to meet the exercise guidelines of an hour day for kids and were less likely to be overweight.

“When it’s implemented effectively, we do believe it could be a very valuable source of physical activity,” said lead author Michelle Stone, a post-doctoral fellow with the faculty of kinesiology and physical education.

The study isn’t meant to assign blame, she added. “Teachers have a lot on their plate. I think the data is telling us that they could do with some more assistance in implementing it into a busy curriculum.”

The findings likely won’t come as a surprise to many educators. Last month the annual survey by the research and advocacy group People for Education reported that many schools described the daily exercise as “a low priority” in an already-packed school day.

School principals surveyed said they struggled to deliver it because of insufficient equipment, space, teacher training and commitment.

Toronto teacher Karyn Awrey makes it a priority because she says the tradeoffs are worth it for her Grade 3 students at Swansea Public School.

They are better able to focus and learn when they get regular exercise.

“They love it,” she says. “It’s all in the delivery and I present to them as this is important and we get to do this.”

Awrey says she’s lucky because kids at her school get phys ed twice a week from a gym teacher and swimming once a week in the nearby community centre. On the other days, she gets them huffing and puffing outside, in the classroom or in the gym at fitness stations.

U of T’s Stone said the study is “a first step” in identifying what makes schools successful in putting DPA in place and also the barriers.

It also raises the question of whether 20 continuous minutes of exercise is the best approach. Bouts of sustained physical activity among the students lasted an average of six or seven minutes, with almost 90 per cent lasting less than 10 minutes. Unlike adults, children tend to accumulate activity in shorter, sporadic bursts.

So it may make sense to rethink the DPA and consider accumulating it with a few shorter breaks, Stone said.

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